Field of the Invention
Aspects of the present invention generally relate to a printing control apparatus for controlling binding processing of binding a plurality of sheets, a method for controlling the printing control apparatus, and a storage medium.
Description of the Related Art
Some of image processing apparatuses having copy and printer functions are provided with a sheet processing apparatus for applying post-print processing to output print sheets. One of typical functions provided by the sheet processing apparatus is a staple binding function. The staple binding function is a function of binding sheets by using a metal staple.
Since a stapled print product is easy to handle on a volume basis, staple binding is widely used when handling an output product having a plurality of pages.
For this reason, some of image processing apparatuses having copy and printer functions are provided with a sheet processing function for applying post-print processing to output print sheets. An example of the sheet processing function is a staple binding function. The staple binding function is a function of binding a sheet bundle (print product) generally by using a metal staple. Since a stapled print product is easy to handle on a volume basis, staple binding is widely used when handling a print product having a plurality of pages.
Recently, however, environment-friendliness has been considered from a view point of use of the metal staple, so that some binding methods without using a metal staple (hereinafter referred to as stapleless binding methods) have been devised. For example, a certain stapleless binding method collectively cuts out a part of a set of print sheets subjected to binding so as to bore the sheets, and weaves the tips of the cut portions to bind the sheets (refer to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-300847).
When printing a plurality of copies, a user can use a technique for printing only one copy and confirming the outcome of the print product. This technique is referred to as a test printing function. Known techniques related to the test printing function include a technique for changing, at the time of test printing, paper used for printing to plain paper when special paper is included in paper to be used for printing, and a technique for specifying the number of pages subjected to test printing and printing only the specified number of pages (refer to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-245322).
With a conventional image processing apparatus configured as described above, when checking the outcome of a stapled print product by using the above-described test printing function, a user may not immediately acquire a desired print product and therefore may repetitively perform the test printing function. In such a case, since an output print product is bound with a staple each time test printing is made, staples are wastefully consumed. Further, staple binding has a disadvantage that, when discarding a stapled print product, the user needs to remove the staple from the print product causing user's trouble.